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Multicenter review: role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in diagnostic evaluation, pre-procedural planning and follow-up for patients with congenital heart disease

  • PAEDIATRIC RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

The number of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is rapidly increasing in the adult population, mainly due to the improved long-term survival. Serial follow-up with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is very appealing due to its non-invasive nature. CMR exam is able to provide specific information about cardiac function, hemodynamics, anatomy and tissue characterization unlikely achievable by other diagnostic techniques. CMR in CHD plays a role both in early diagnosis and in post-operative follow-up. Black Blood T1 weighted sequences are used to acquire morphological information. Cine Steady State Free Precession sequences are mainly used to provide data about cardiac function and kinesis. Hemodynamic assessment is routinely performed using phase contrast sequences, which provide reliable information concerning vessel flow pattern, cardiac output and intracardiac shunts. Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) and 3D coronary MRA of the whole thorax can provide detailed morphological information regarding great vessels and proximal coronary arteries. Presence of late gadolinium enhancement suggesting myocardial macroscopic fibrosis seems to play a prognostic and diagnostic role even in this field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiologia Pediatrica e Specialistica, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria, Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona, Via Conca 71, Torrette, 60126, Ancona, Italy

    Nicolò Schicchi & Andrea Giovagnoni

  2. Department of Imaging, Bambino Gesù—Children’s Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Aurelio Secinaro, Giuseppe Muscogiuri, Teresa Santangelo, Carmela Napolitano & Paolo Tomà

  3. Department of Medical-Surgical Sciences and Translational Medicine, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Giuseppe Muscogiuri

  4. Department Medical and Surgical of Pediatric Cardiology, Bambino Gesù—Children’s Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Ciliberti & Benedetta Leonardi

  5. Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy

    Giacomo Agliata, Maria Chiara Basile & Francesca Guidi

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  1. Nicolò Schicchi
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  2. Aurelio Secinaro
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Correspondence to Nicolò Schicchi.

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This study was not funded by any organization.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Schicchi, N., Secinaro, A., Muscogiuri, G. et al. Multicenter review: role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in diagnostic evaluation, pre-procedural planning and follow-up for patients with congenital heart disease. Radiol med 121, 342–351 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-015-0608-z

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